With all their infinite wisdom, why design a mag, include a dust cover, then make it not able to snap to the bottom like the Gen2. Now you got another thing to lose.

Seems kind of dumb if you ask me.

FWP

Wasn't a widely used option!

so then why even bother if you are supposed to lose it and not use it?

I'm honestly not sure what the big deal is here. When I carried PMAGs in Iraq and Afghanistan, I stored them with their covers on while I was inside the wire. Before I went out, I popped all the covers off and dropped them in a bag or pouch. When I returned from a mission, I cleaned up my gear and put the covers back on. They kept dirt out and rounds in (in case I dropped a mag or bounced them around while handling my gear on the FOB).

Exactly, who's got time to snap off and place on bottom of mag during mag change! LoL
Now... if it had incorporated a pull on the dust cover, that might have been better use!

I don't do it myself - I always removed the dust covers if there was a possibility that I would use the magazines - but the technique that I've seen is to roll your weapon to the side (so the magazine well is angled toward your support hand) and strike the rear tab of the cover downward against the lip on the side of the magwell, causing it to catch and pop off.

Wow. I don't blame you.  I suppose almost anything can become muscle-memory but, damn, that sounds like introducing a fine motor skill into a place where you probably don't need it.

I probably didn't describe it very well, because it's more like roughly slapping the back spine of the magazine against the magwell, not a precise movement. I would equate it to the way that people slam the magazine catch on an AK and knock the empty magazine out in the same motion while they're reloading. Both techniques are things that I haven't practiced because I would probably end up jamming a finger or scraping my knuckles, even with gloves on. The cover will obviously go flying off into space too, so it would be an emergency sort of procedure. I know I saw it demonstrated in a video somewhere, but of course I can't find it now. I wouldn't recommend it anyway. Just take the covers off beforehand.

The technique I saw for them involved using the trigger guard rather than the magwell. Easier to catch, more sure to pop the cover, but then again, you're sticking something inside the trigger guard.